June 2012 Archives

You want your company to be associated with excellence, right? That's one more reason you should get involved with Professional Photographer magazine! This publication took home 17 of the Magazine Association of the Southeast's 2012 GAMMA Awards, including one for General Excellence that names it the best business-to-business/association magazine in the Southeast.

One judge commented: "Professional Photographer knows how to select case studies that can educate their readership."

Recognizing editorial and design excellence in magazine publishing, the GAMMA Awards validate Professional Photographer's 100-plus years of helping readers--some of your best customers--excel in the photographic industry with professional advice and inspiration. You can see the entire list of awards here.

Professional Photographer magazine just launched their fifth annual Cover Photo Contest, which draws the interest of thousands of portrait, wedding, commercial, sports and event photographers around the world. More than 6,600 individuals entered the 2011 contest and PPmag.com traffic increased almost 50 percent during the contest months, thanks to the "Viewer's Choice" voting capability, which brought in over 37,000 voters. (People can browse entries and vote for their favorites.)

Entries are already pouring in for the 2012 contest, and the submission deadline is August 31. Along with landing the cover of Professional Photographer magazine, the winner of the contest will be awarded prizes from sponsors WHCC, Photobiz and Michaels Custom Framing.

Those sponsors get a "prize" as well, thanks to the exposure their involvement brings. For example, they are featured on full-page promotional house ads in three issues of the magazine. Their logos appear on the contest section of PPmag.com, in every promotional email and in promotional ads on PPA.com.

If you want to engage the decision makers in your industry, you first need to be where they are. Then you then need to catch their attention. Your opportunity to do just that is coming up at Imaging USA, the convention and expo for serious professional photographers.

Since Imaging USA is where professional photographers--your customers--go to soak up the best business and artistic ideas for success, it's the perfect place to show how you can help them. It's your chance to stick in their minds as the ideal solution, product or service. And since you want them to remember you all show and all year long, don't limit your exposure to your exhibit space. Raise your brand above the rest with a sponsorship that keeps your company top of mind.

The next Imaging USA event will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, January 20-22, 2013. For more show details, visit www.imagingusa.org/exhibitor-resources/. And ask your sales rep for the best ways to get your name recognized and remembered!

If you're planning on exhibiting at Imaging USA in Atlanta (January 20-22, 2013), you won't want to miss these important reminders:

Book your hotel rooms now to ensure you get the closest spots available! For example, the headquarters hotel is the Omni Hotel at CNN Center...and it is connected to the convention center via a short, outside walkway for easy access. All hotels and special rates (and booking links or numbers) are online here: www.imagingusa.org/hotels-travel/.

Professional photographers will soon have the most up-to-date resource for bettering their businesses. PPA is preparing to launch the results of their 2011 Benchmark Survey, which gives studios key performance indicators (benchmarks) based on financial data compiled from hundreds of studios.

By following these benchmarks, photographers are virtually guaranteed to improve profit margins. The benchmarks will help them determine how much they need to sell in order to achieve the personal income they seek; how much they must charge to achieve that level of sales; and how much it will cost to pay day-to-day business expenses.

And these benchmarks work. Over the course of the three PPA Benchmark Surveys (2005, 2008 and 2011), we've seen a marked improvement in performance by the studios that participated multiple times. Take as evidence the 66 studios that participated in both the 2008 and 2011 Benchmark Surveys: By applying the benchmarks to their businesses in the intervening years, they easily eclipsed the results turned in by other participating studios.

PPA is the only organization that creates such comprehensive financial guidance for photographers. Following that guidance can help photographers create a stronger, healthier business...and that can lead to good business for the rest of the industry!

On PPA.com, PPA members will soon be able to see these latest recommended benchmarks and additional resources that will guide them through how to use the benchmarks to make key decisions.